Perseid Meteor Shower in 2017 with astronomical observatory in the foreground.
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A group of astrophysicists in France have turned their attention away from the stars to focus on what they can do to secure a greener future for our home planet.
In a new study published in Nature Astronomy, a group of researchers at the Institut de Recherche de Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP) in France, detailed for the first time the carbon footprint produced by astronomers. The study estimates the emissions of active observatories alone are comparable to the annual emissions produced by the countries Estonia, Croatia, and Bulgaria.
“We have to slow down,” said Jürgen Knödlseder, the research director at IRAP and lead author on the study. In the face of significant emissions produced by large observatories, Knödlseder is advocating for “slow science.”
The research began when Knödlseder and his colleagues decided to look into the energy consumption of their own laboratory back in 2020. They looked at the typical energy-consuming activities like building heating, work travels. Then, they started looking at the carbon footprint of their observation activities.
Being the biggest astrophysics laboratory in France, the list of observatories the researchers were using – and thus consuming energy with – quickly grew in length. That’s when Knödlseder realized they could calculate the footprint of the entire field.
According to the study, which analyzed 46 space missions and 39 ground-based observatories, the largest chunk of emissions activity comes from ground-based operations. They found the annual carbon footprint of all active observatories is equivalent to 20 million tons of carbon dioxide.
Astronomy infrastructure is only growing bigger as time goes on. The European Southern Observatory (ESO), which conducts operations through a series of telescopes based in Chile, is working on the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) – an observatory which will be larger than the Colosseum in Rome.
While the ESO has outlined a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Knödlseder worries the ever-growing equipment could eclipse these efforts.
“It’s like if you try to slow down a car by braking and at the same time you accelerate,” said Knödlseder. “Doesn’t work so well.”
Travis Rector, an astrophysicist at the University of Alaska Anchorage who organizes for the group Astronomers for Planet Earth, said he thinks that astronomers need to figure out a way to continue doing the work that they do while reducing their carbon footprint.
“Perhaps the clearest example of that is the virtual conferencing that all of us have had to use because of Covid,” Rector, who was not involved in the study, said of emissions-reducing steps astronomers can take.
When the American Astronomical Society conference moved online after the pandemic started, it didn’t only reduce emissions that widespread air travel to the event would’ve caused. According to Rector, more people than ever were able to attend the conference.
“I think the most important thing for us to do is to look for ways to reduce our emissions, but also maintain and possibly increase our science productivity as a result,” said Rector.
Rector points out the ESO plans to use solar panels to power the ELT during the day. “Many observatories are already looking into ways to generate the power that we need for our facilities with green energy,” he said.
Alternatively, Knödlseder embraces a potentially slowed rate of discovery in the pursuit of cutting emissions. The Slow Science Manifesto, published by a group of German academics in 2010 argues for scientists to “take their time” with their research. It calls for the revival of the slow, steady progression of scientific discovery.
For his part in slowing down the field’s carbon emissions without halting scientific progress, Knödlseder said he’s begun working more with archival data, some that is up to 30 years old. He said there’s astronomy data waiting in the archives which has never really been looked into. “There are treasures to be explored,” he said.
Knödlseder argued that astronomers can set their own rate. “We can ourselves just decide to slow down and make science differently.”
